Sandringham Side Streets Develop a Reputation For Being Unsafe

Residents of various side streets in Sandringham are reporting several accidents caused by the overly narrow roads and lack of government safety measures. Various sources state that parked cars are having their wing mirrors smashed by reckless drivers and that the unregulated parking is causing traffic jams, particularly around peak hour.

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Jamie Killick, a resident of Duncan Ave, alleges her wing mirror was smashed by speeding vehicles while parked.

“I live in a flat with three other people and our driveway is only big enough for one car so three of us are forced to park on the road. I don’t want to have to worry about paying to fix my wing mirror just because the council isn’t prepared to sort out any safety precautions.”

Another frustrated Auckland local, Kacey Barrett, details how she also had the wing mirror of her car taken off by a reckless driver in the clip below.

Dangerous enough on a regular day, these problematic streets become increasingly busy during rugby season due to Eden Park being a short walk away. Both sides of the road fill with parked cars, leaving only enough space for one vehicle to pass through safely. It has been said that crash rates often rise on narrow roads, so residents are becoming increasingly frustrated and confused as to why nothing is being done.

(Haverstock Road on a regular day, not during peak traffic)

The government has failed to take measures to ensure the safety of Sandringham residents, such as Jamie and her boyfriend, with many locals commenting that they’d like to see stop signs, speed bumps or for cars to only park on one side of the road. A reasonable request when taking into consideration that speed is a key contributing factor in motor vehicle accidents.

“I genuinely think that if we just had some speed bumps put in it would mean way less accidents, like I see broken off wing mirrors literally just lying on the side of the road all the time. And if cars are that careless and continue to speed, who’s to say that they’re not going to take out a kid coming from the playground at Taumata reserve.” – Jamie Killick

With locals up in arms about the dangerous nature of Sandringham side streets, the unanimous opinion is that the government must step up to protect both residents and their property.

 

Post Ten: The Future of Journalism

Journalism is a career path commonly associated with a lack of jobs, high stress and bad pay, however, this is slowly beginning to change. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment states that both the job prospects and pay are now average to high, meaning that conditions are improving.

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A key factor in the changing face of journalism relates to the increasing need for online content which creates a demand for social media and digital design personnel. Positions that didn’t exist during times of traditional journalism such as “Social Media Coordinator,” “Social Media Producer” and “Social Media Editor” are now often being scouted for, meaning more and more jobs are opening up in the newsroom for people with various skills.

Other ways in which journalism has been changing include citizen journalism, which refers to when members of the public, who do not have an official career in the industry, document events or uncover stories using journalistic techniques. What this shows us is that In our current society, anyone can become a journalist, especially with the rise of social media. Conditions are now better, the pay is better and the industry is constantly changing, providing journalists with an exciting career that will encourage them to continue to upskill as a means of keeping up.

Post Nine: Digital Storytelling

Internet only took four years to reach an audience of 50 million people in comparison to the 13 years it took television and the 38 years it took radio, clearly showing the vast and ultimately superior reach of social media. Digital storytelling refers to the manner in which individuals use online tools to share information using multimedia.

Within the realm of digital storytelling, there are five key elements including the type of media used to create the stories, the type of action, the relationship between the user and the digital story, the limitless context through linking to related, relevant information and the presence of multimodal communication. The inclusion of multimodal media, one of the most vital elements, refers to different modes of media such as the written word, images, videos, sound and other such components.

The primary draw factors for online journalism is the extensive reach, and ability to produce more interactive content that audiences are more likely to engage with. It also gives journalists more freedom in the way which they present their content.

A relatively new form of journalism which relates to digital storytelling is virtual reality. It has been argued that virtual reality is the future of journalism as it is the only way to truly immerse the audience in a news story and give them a complete understanding. This relates to the idea that traditional text journalism depreciates and under represents news stories, allowing readers to disassociate from them.

With the world of digital journalism and storytelling growing daily, who’s to say what will come next?

Post Eight: The Dos and Don’ts of Punctuation

As an avid Grammarly user, I can’t say I’ve given much thought to my punctuation use since primary school. I sat through a few tedious lessons of when and where to put apostrophes and didn’t give it much thought after that, making the cocky assumption that I had a pretty firm grasp. After doing the required reading of “Eats, Shoots & Leaves,” I quickly realised I shouldn’t be near as self-assured as I am.

Missing purposeful (and obvious) punctuation errors throughout the entirety of the introduction opened my eyes to the trials and tribulations of an actual news editor. Regardless of how experienced you are, people make mistakes and being able to catch them is a vital part of news writing. Without paying careful attention to punctuation, grammar and structure, we lose our credibility and end up ultimately looking uneducated.

There are various other rules for journalistic writing that I was previously unaware of too. For example, numbers up until ten must be written out in full but any number after that can be converted to actual numbers. These rules can change depending on the news source you write for which is why it is important to familiarise yourself with the house style before starting a new job.

As far as my story goes, this week I conducted my interview with a neighbour that had her wing mirror taken off on our shared narrow road. I’m happy with my overall content and am ready to transcribe it and start piecing the story together.

 

Post Seven: Developing My Story

With the turn in date for assignment two approaching at a concerning speed, I’ve dedicated most of this week to developing and structuring my news story. As I mentioned in a previous post, my idea is to write about the dangers of narrow side streets and the accidents occurring as a result. As an attempt to gather sources and find the angle I wish to take, I talked to neighbours about their experience living on an extremely narrow street.

Immediately, one of my neighbours told me that the wing mirror of her car had been taken off by someone driving at a high speed. She also told me that she had seen countless other wing mirrors laying on the road after being severed by passing cars. Another neighbour told me she was always very conscious about the risks of living on such a narrow street and takes measures such as bringing in her wing mirrors as a precautionary step to prevent damage. She also told me that she has witnessed a wing mirror being taken off in person and that the driver at fault just continued driving.

This promotes a discussion about what steps could be taken to ensure drivers slow down on these extremely narrow side streets. Duncan Ave has no speed bumps or slow signs which is even more concerning when taking into consideration the children’s playground situated halfway down the road. In an area that children come to play, shouldn’t the government be doing more to ensure their safety?

Other articles have been written talking about how narrow roads are safer and fewer accidents occur when compared to wide, main roads. My issue with this is that the side streets are used much less often so it is obvious that the number of accidents would be fewer. It’s like comparing the number of crashes in Australia and New Zealand, without taking into consideration the vast difference in population.

Narrow streets in residential areas are considered desirable, and they would be fine if proper precautions were taken to prevent speeding and other unsafe driving behaviours. In my article, I plan to detail the issue with narrow roads and present what residents feel would make these streets safer. It falls into public interest because it includes timeliness, human interest and consequences, and not only does it apply to those living in Sandringham, but in narrow streets across central Auckland. Families and individuals living on these residential streets deserve to feel safe and so I feel very confident in going ahead with this story.

Post Six: Breaking News and Social Media

Breaking news is a big, and often stressful, part of journalism. It relates to events that are often unexpected and essentially refers to news as it happens. Examples of breaking news include accidents, natural disasters, crime, business and politics, just to name a few.

Four very key aspects of covering breaking news are facts, interviews, speed and accuracy, which relates back to the inverted news pyramid which I have covered extensively in earlier posts. The most effective way of covering this type of news is to find out a basic overview of what is happening, fact check and then release that as soon as possible. After you have released the initial statement is when you can start working on extensive details and finding individuals to interview.

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Covering breaking news can be a taxing part of journalism purely due to the time crunch mixed with the need for accuracy but it is an extremely important part of the job. Breaking news is almost always within the public interest and it is the journalist’s job to communicate the happenings in the most accurate way possible. Not only do people want to be in the know but journalists can use their platform to warn people and keep them safe too.

It has become increasingly apparent that social media now also plays a large role in the collection and analysing of breaking news. A great example of this is how local police used Twitter to keep the public updated on the Columbia mall shooting as it was happening. The information being posted to social media by police, a very reliable source, was extremely valuable to journalists. Instead of spending vital time finding sources for this breaking news story, journalists were able to have their finger on the pulse simply by checking twitter. This shows the growing influence of social media on the world of journalism.

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Post Five: Public Relations and the Dreaded ‘Spin’

By having the utmost vital role in modern media and news production, Journalists have a moral code they must abide by and boundaries that should never be crossed. Their job is to write primarily about events and issues within the public interest. Unfortunately, press releases are being made to look like legitimate news stories instead of the bias promotions they are, relating to the idea that propaganda is still prominent in modern media.

The profession behind a majority of this propaganda is public relations and journalists rely heavily on PR reps as sources of news. These professionals, or ‘spin doctors’ as they are often referred to, represent companies and are trained to manipulate the media in order to present their clients in the most flattering manner possible. This means they’re unlikely to divulge unflattering details relating to who they represent, regardless of how important they may be to the story. Ultimately, this detrimental, yet necessary relationship between journalists and public relations specialists is resulting in the public being fed biased and unbalanced news stories on a regular basis.

 

One of the most famous instances of public relations influencing journalism and news production was Edward Bernays extremely successful campaign to encourage women to buy cigarettes. Considered by many to be the primary figure behind public relations, Bernays manipulated the media by tipping them off that there happened to be a large group of attractive women smoking in the Easter parade without divulging that the event was planned. Imploring that it was a feminist statement, Bernays created a genius spin on the story.

Spin is a manner of manipulation utilised by the media in which a biased take on an event or issue is presented by journalists who are generally expected to remain fair and balanced. So how do journalists avoid the idea of spin tainting their articles? A key step is to build up their own network of trusted sources over time. It’s also important to be as perceptive and cautious as possible. By remaining truthful and avoiding spin, we not only encourage readers to trust us but deliver the public the honest content that they deserve.

Post Four: Developing Structure

Thankfully, this week was the week in which my relentless stalking of the Sandringham facebook community page paid off. A post detailing how cars are speeding down the narrow side streets, like the one I am currently living on, and regularly taking off wing mirrors of parked cars really peaked my interest, so this week I’m planning to dig a little deeper.

With a vague idea of what my story will centre around, the next crucial step will be finding an angle and structuring the story. The inverted news writing pyramid is a popular tool for journalists to ensure they are structuring their story in a manner appropriate for publication.

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As writers, we all like to think that our audience will happily spend five minutes combing through our articles and drinking in every last detail. Unfortunately, audiences often click on articles wanting to find all the key information in the first paragraph. As a result, journalists need to organise their information so that the critical facts and details are forefront and ready for the impatient reader to take in.

An even more in-depth inverted news writing pyramid (seen below) details the exact content journalists should be putting in each paragraph. It shows how the lead paragraph, which is ultimately the most crucial aspect of any article, is essentially a brief summary of the event followed by extra details in the following paragraphs.

(Conley & Lamble, 2016)

A crucial facet of writing a news story is being able to effectively gather information. This is often achieved by journalists building a clear idea of what they need to find out and systematically collecting details, primarily through talking to those involved and interviewing.

Finally, when putting a story together, fairness and balance are vital values that journalists need to be very conscious of. This not only elevates credibility but gives the journalist a deeper insight into your topic which ultimately benefits the subjects, the readers and the journalist as a content creator.

 

 

Post Three: Learning to Interview

I’ve always considered myself a confident person but the idea of finding, approaching and interviewing a stranger is the most uncomfortable situation I could possibly imagine. Despite this, I recognise that interviewing is a key part of journalism and therefore resolved to absorb as much as I possibly could before being thrown in the deep end by conducting my own interview.

The first and arguably most important method of being a good interviewer is being well prepared. As a journalist, people who agree to be interviewed are essentially donating their time to help your career or to spread a message. If journalists are unequipped for this, it fails to give the subject the legitimate platform that they deserve and is extremely disrespectful.

Gaining an extensive amount of background knowledge on the topic you plan to discuss allows for a more open and comfortable conversation where you’ll be able to get deeper into the mind of your subject. Therefore research is a key aspect of preparing for any interview. This also relates to the idea of using open-ended questions. We want our subjects to give us as much information as possible which we aren’t going to be able to get with yes or no questions.

Being able to express empathy is another important ability for journalists to have as it helps interviewees develop a connection with you as a journalist and feel at ease revealing personal details. Ellen is one of the most prominent interview hosts in modern media and has an extremely comforting and supportive approach to interviewing. As a result of this, many individuals feel comfortable and compelled to open up to her. The above video of Chely Wright shows how Ellen encourages her subject and expresses her sympathy for what Chely went through, ultimately creating a stronger relationship between the host and the subject.

Finally, and very importantly, remember to be perceptive. Whether this refers to picking up on body language, the way your subject interacts with their environment or ways in which they may try to dodge questions, journalists must be hyper-aware of every aspect of the interview. Ariana Grande was featured in an interview years ago in which the journalists were completely oblivious to how their questions were making her feel. As a result of this, the interview has now gone viral as a sexist trainwreck, destroying the men’s credibility. All they needed to do to avoid this was to pick on on Ariana’s discomfort and divert the direction the interview was going in, therefore demonstrating the importance of being aware of the subject.

 

Post Two: Defining News and Finding a Story

The actual definition of news isn’t something I gave much thought to prior to Principles of Journalism. My previous understanding had me thinking that news is exclusively the type of content you find in The Herald or on the six o’clock news. In hindsight, I can now recognise that it’s so much more than that.

News is an overarching term that can define a variety of content from the unusual to the stirring to the important. The definition that resonates with me most strongly is “the stuff people need to know.” Journalists are people with the power to keep those in power honest and to give people crucial information, this is an integral role in our society because (excuse the horrendous clichè,) knowledge really is power.

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Moving on from the literal definition of news, what is news value? In a nutshell, it’s the values most common across news stories. They are attributes that when put into place, make a story relevant in the public sphere by encapsulating what the public needs to know. The stronger the level of public interest in a story determines the impact it will have.

So with a firm grasp of what news really is, I’m at last able to move on to finding my first story. Research, sources and hard facts are your best friends in this industry and the most effective way of finding them is getting involved in your community. Taking the first step by joining the Sandringham facebook group has opened my eyes to a variety of possible story ideas. My next move will be to find some possible stories and check them for public interest and news values before reaching out and talking to strangers.